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Meet the Hosts
Mike Baudendistel

Mike Baudendistel is an analyst and Market Expert at FreightWaves focusing on the railroad, intermodal and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries. His support for SONAR customers extends to performing custom analysis such as making recommendations on where current truckloads can be converted to intermodal and rate and service comparisons across modes. Prior to joining FreightWaves, Baudendistel served as a senior sell-side equity research analyst covering the publicly-traded Class I railroads, and suppliers that manufacture and lease railroad equipment, and suppliers that manufacture trucks, trailers, engines and other components. He has 15 years of experience following the freight transportation industry with experience that also touched the truckload, Jones Act barge and domestic logistics industries. He is a CFA Charterholder.
Grace Sharkey

Grace Sharkey is a professional in the logistics and transportation industry with experience in journalism, digital content creation and decision-making roles in the third-party logistics space. Prior to joining FreightWaves, Grace led a startup brokerage to more than $80 million in revenue, holding roles of increasing responsibility, including director of sales, vice president of business development and chief strategy officer. She is currently a staff writer, podcast producer and SiriusXM radio host for FreightWaves, a leading provider of news, data and analytics for the logistics industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Michigan State University.
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Recent Articles

Shippers called the first half better than carriers
Echo surveyed 5,000 carriers and shippers on the freight market On Tuesday, Echo and FreightWaves co-hosted a webinar that featured Sean Burke, Echo chief commercial officer, and Jay Gustafson, Echo executive vice president of brokerage operations. The presentation discussed the results of a survey conducted at the end of last year, with more than 5,000 […]

TACO in container ship data
Ocean carriers are maintaining pricing power This chart of ocean spot rates has moved in a manner similar to stock market averages. (Chart: SONAR) By now, most of us have seen memes about a new and creative way to say “Buy the dip,” which is, of course, Trump Always Chickens Out, or TACO. In addition […]

Trade War Command Center quantifies import turmoil
‘Air pocket’ makes its way to port and intermodal volume SONAR Trade War Command Center In April, numerous U.S. ports set records for import volume. The SONAR Trade War Command Center application shows expected steep month-over-month declines in import volumes based on a 14-day moving average of bookings by date of departure. Most notably, volume […]

Loose Southern California truck market set to get looser
Carriers in port cities brace for ‘air pocket’ The Los Angeles outbound tender rejection rate is only 2% compared to the national tender rejection rate of 5.4%. (Chart: SONAR) Import volume remained strong in April, as FreightWaves described, with imports up 1.2% from March and 9.1% year over year. Going forward, a major drop-off in […]

Ocean carriers blank sailings as bookings drop
Ocean rejection rates spike as bookings fall (Chart: SONAR Container Atlas) Much of the focus the past several days has been on the drop in ocean bookings from China to the U.S., and with good reason. The SONAR Ocean Booking Volume Index from China to the U.S. is now down about 50% year over year, […]

Freight industry braces for drop in demand
Tender volume takes a dive Tender volume, a measure of how often shippers request carriers to move loads, has trended down in recent days. (Chart: SONAR) Up until the past few days, for all the turmoil in trade policy and the financial markets, SONAR had not been showing much change in freight demand, as measured […]